Anything You Can Do
by Phirlman
Summary: Eight years after the events of Gundam SEED, Dearka and Yzak find themselves in a fierce competition. The only problem is that Dearka doesn't know about it. YxOC and DxM. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hehe, I bet you with this was the seventeenth chapter of The Aftermath. Well, you'll have to wait a little while for that. This story is the result of too much free time, waaay too much coffee, and too many airline peanuts. It will be a chapter work due to the fact that I can't seem to put down all the ideas I have in my head in a single chapter. It is set eight years after the original Gundam SEED and if any characters seem a bit OOC it is because eight years have passed and they have grown older and more mature (hopefully). This is mainly Yzak/OC and Dearka/Miriallia, but everyone else is in here. There will be some Kira/Lacus and Athrun/Cagalli. I would love to know what you think about this, so review please. Or I may just have to break your toes, and you don't want that. And if you do, call me.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED.

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**Anything You Can Do**

_**Chapter 1: Anything You Can Do...**_

During the course of a man's life there are things that are expected of him as he grows older. For instance, during a young man's childhood it could be considered a severe blunder to kiss a member of the opposite gender on their own free will. Prepubescent boys have an uncanny fear of the opposite sex that makes people wonder why there are any young kids at all. But as a boy progresses in age, intimate encounters are something to boast about. And as the boy grows even older and mature, an encounter of such nature may be considered as natural as waking.

At boyhood, kissing is not expected, but at age twenty-five, having never received a kiss is a mark of shame. A mark made more visible than perhaps a fading scar on one's face. It is a mark of shame that certain blonde-haired, tan-skinned boys will never let you live down. It is a mark of shame that becomes more apparent to oneself when said tan boys come to brag about their romantic encounters and share relationship stories with you. It is a mark of shame that becomes painful when your mother always reminds you of your dead love life and when she always speaks about the grandchildren she will never receive.

It is a mark of shame that Yzak Jule wears.

It is a mark that Yzak cannot help but think about as he leans back in his big, black, over-padded chair and watches the watermarks on the ceiling. It is a mark that is the only thing he can think about in his small, quiet office located deep inside the recently finished space fortress Jachin Tre.

Yzak sighed for what must have been the thousandth time and scowled at the innocent watermarks on his ceiling. After being momentarily taken back when he thought one of them seemed to cower from his scowl he sighed again and looked back down at the paperwork scattered across his desk. When he sat down to work a little over three hours ago his desk was a lot more tidy than it is now. Yzak decided that the present state of his office was not fit to work in and decided to leave just a second before the door to his office opened and a smiling Dearka Elthman walked inside.

Dearka walked to the front of Yzak's desk looked at it's current untidy appearance. Dearka had changed in the last eight years so subtly that Yzak almost didn't notice it. He had grown a couple inches taller and his jawline was more distinguished. His neatly trimmed hair was combed back and his uniform was carefully pressed and clean. His violet eyes held more of a shine than when they were younger. And one other change that Yzak could never figure out was that the former buster pilot always smelled like cinnamon. Always. When Yzak asked the other man for the reason all he could do was smile like an idiot and say that cinnamon was a miracle.

Yzak sat back in his chair and waited for an explanation for the sudden intrusion. Dearka sat down in a chair across from Yzak and smoothed out his uniform before saying, "Tomorrow is the day, Yzak." He smiled meaningfully at Yzak as though he should know exactly what he meant.

Yzak just stared back and raised an eyebrow. "That's... great?" he replied hesitantly.

Dearka's smile vanished and he sighed and shook his head. "Do you ever listen to anything I tell you?"

"Not if I can help it," Yzak mumbled.

"Today is the day I am going back to Earth. Back to Orb," Dearka said with a far off look on his face.

"Back to Miriallia," Yzak finished for the other man.

"Ah," he blurted out immediately. "Well... Yes. That too." Dearka smiled again at the thought of Miriallia Haww. Those two had been seeing each other for what seemed like an eternity. They had parted ways and fell back together so many times it made Yzak's head spin thinking about it. They had been going steadily for the past two years without any potholes. Dearka was constantly taking time out of his work in order to make visits to Earth and Miriallia was coming to the PLANTs just as frequently. Dearka was even talking about leaving the military this year to move to Earth permanently to be with her. It was nice for them, but that practically left Yzak all alone up here.

"So that is today," Yzak said bitterly. "Why are you so happy about tomorrow then?"

"I-" Dearka stopped himself and gave Yzak a funny look. "Hm. Maybe you're not the best person to tell." Dearka's voice held a level of amusement Yzak was not comfortable with. This conversation would probably result in a few stabs at his pathetic personal life. "I mean, when discussing relationship matters, it helps to talk to someone who can relate, you know?" Yzak scowled at him. "Right... I guess you wouldn't."

"Either tell me or leave so I can go home," Yzak snarled.

Dearka sighed in defeat and dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small black box and set it on the desk in front of Yzak. Yzak reached out and picked it up. He opened it and saw a gold ring with a rather large diamond protruding from it. Yzak stared at it for a moment, then looked back at Dearka. The other man was smiling gleefully and Yzak scowled again. "Is this your idea of a joke?" he asked angrily as he threw the ring back at Dearka.

"What are you talking about?" Dearka asked as he made a desperate grab for the ring. He caught it and place it back into his pocket.

"This is just another one of your games, isn't it? Just because I may not have the best love life you have to come into my office and pretend to propose to me for laughs? That is real low. Well, I hope you kept the receipt for the ring because I'm not amused! Why don't you get it all out now and just say it all you want? I have never been with a woman, I have never been kissed, and I have never even gotten a hug from anyone but my mom and that really creepy guy that hangs out by the water cooler down the hall!"

Dearka stared at Yzak for a long, long time before his eyes started to water and he burst into explosive laughter. After a long fit of laughter he sat up straight and looked at Yzak, still smiling ear-to-ear, and said, "This wasn't a joke Yzak. The ring isn't for you. It's for Miriallia. I had no intentions of poking fun at you today. I just wanted to tell you I was finally going to propose."

Yzak's face turned bright red and he swallowed hard. He put a scowl back onto his face and said through clenched teeth, "Congratulations."

Dearka chuckled and thanked him. After a few moments of silence that was excruciating for Yzak, Dearka said seriously, "Why don't you come to Earth with me? Miriallia has some pretty cute friends. We could find you a girlfriend in no time."

Yzak studied Dearka's face, looking for signs that he was joking, but found nothing but sincerity. "I can't leave now," he said shaking his head. "There is too much work to be done around here. Plus, if we both left than that would mean Julio would be in command of the _Pascal_. Knowing him he'd probably take it out and run it into an asteroid."

Dearka chuckled again. "You give Julio too much credit. He wouldn't even know where to put the key. Plus, the rest of the crew would know better than to do that." Dearka leaned back in his chair and breathed heavily. "You are far overdue for a vacation Yzak. When was the last time you took one?"

"I never took a vacation," Yzak mumbled.

"See? I was right," Dearka said with a triumphant smile. "Come to Earth. You get way too tense just sitting around up here. A change of scenery will do you good." Yzak had to admit he made sense. "Plus, there is always the possibility you will find someone down there."

Yzak thought about it a moment and groaned. "I guess you are right." He hated admitting defeat. Especially to Dearka.

"Good," the blonde said cheerfully as he stood up. "The shuttle leaves in a couple hours. I suggest you go home and pack." He walked out of the door with a short wave over his shoulder.

Yzak let his head fall down on his desk.

He was going to Earth.

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The shuttle ride to Earth was far too long and the company far too boring. Yzak sat next to Dearka staring out at the stars with an unpleasant look on his face. He had said barely four words since they took their seats. If he stayed like this during their stay on Earth Dearka was going to have to kick the other man in the head just to get a word out of him. Yzak's silence was the result of the hatred for long rides he had developed over the years. Those long rides left people with too much time to think, and thinking was never a good thing.

Dearka was left to drown in his own thoughts which made him regret taking this vacation, and he didn't want to regret it. The ring that he had bought — the very expensive ring — was burning a hole in his pants. He was starting to have doubts about his plan. What if this was too sudden? What if Miriallia said no? He doubted he would be able to take rejection, so perhaps he should just set the ring aside and wait for a better time. Why should they get married now when everything was already so nice?

The only problem was that everything wasn't so nice.

Granted, Dearka and Miriallia loved one another, but the huge distance between them made their relationship quite difficult. Dearka always talked about moving to Earth permanently, but he never made any real steps towards doing just that. Miriallia loved her home too much to move to PLANT. She was close to her family and friends on Earth, and all Dearka really had was Yzak, so it was obvious who was going to move where. Getting married would mean Dearka would have to rush and move to Earth as soon as possible. Having to adjust to the new life and deal with a wedding was a bit much.

It would be best to wait.

Dearka sighed and dug into his pocket and retrieved the ring. He looked at it and flipped it over his fingers a few times. "Having doubts?" Yzak said off to the side, still gazing out at the stars.

"I think I should wait a while before I do this," Dearka replied, his eyes still stuck to the ring.

"Why?" Yzak asked, looking over to Dearka.

"It is all a little too sudden. What if she says no?"

"You are making excuses. She wont say no, and it isn't too sudden. You two have been together for practically eight years. How do you know she isn't just sitting at home waiting for the day that you propose?" Yzak's eyes drifted back out of the shuttle's window.

Dearka shook his head. "Maybe you are right. Maybe I am just making excuses, but I still think I should wait a while."

"I wont let you," Yzak said evenly.

Dearka looked at Yzak and said, "What?"

"I said," Yzak started, "that I wont let you. I'll make you propose to Miriallia or I'll do it for you."

"Why do you even care?" Dearka demanded, baffled by his friend's words.

"Because it isn't right for you to stall like this. I know you didn't buy that ring recently. It's been sitting at your house for over a year. You have to let your balls drop and take a chance Dearka. Trust me," Yzak said looking back at Dearka. "She wont say no."

"But what if she does?" Dearka groaned.

Yzak shrugged and said, "Then I'll make her marry you. You can get pretty pathetic sometimes, sitting around thinking about her instead of working. Frankly it makes me sick. She will marry you and maybe then you can do an hour's worth of work without going off into your own little world for once."

Dearka blinked at Yzak a couple times. It is pretty funny how Yzak can help out a friend without actually sounding like he is helping. Now Dearka was firmly resolved to propose to Miriallia. He smiled and leaned back in his seat and decided to sleep for the rest of the ride, but unfortunately for him, Yzak was still in the mood to talk. "Why do you always smell like that?"

Dearka gave his light-haired friend an odd look. "Smell like what?"

"Cinnamon."

"Oh," Dearka said as he smiled at the fond memory. "Cinnamon is-"

"Don't even say it," Yzak growled. Dearka was taken back by his friend's comment and looked at him. "If you say that cinnamon is a miracle then I will be forced to hurt you."

"What are you talking about?" Dearka asked in wide-eyed surprise.

Yzak narrowed his eyes and answered, "I always ask you about your scent and you always say the same thing. I want to know why you always smell like that. It is creepy."

Dearka chuckled lightly and shook his head. "It is a personal story."

"We are friends, aren't we?" Yzak said while turning his face away from Dearka.

"Oh," Dearka said in a low tone, "and I suppose it is perfectly normal for friends to threaten their friends with physical harm for almost everything they do?"

Yzak glared back at Dearka. "Fine, don't tell me."

He looked back out of the window and didn't say another word for the rest of the trip.

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_**Currently Listening To: This Could Be Love by Alkaline Trio**_

**A/N: Ah, there isn't anything quite like finishing a chapter for a story. Well, there's getting reviews for said story. That has to be ten times better. (Hint Hint) Look forward to the next chapter sometime soon. I am officially on summer break so I have plenty of free time to write my fingers off.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, all I'm going to say here is to please remember that I'm writing this fanfic on a fit of insanity. Actually, fits of insanity are pretty much the norm for me. I guess I have fits of sanity occasionally, but nonetheless, this story is being (written or wrote. I know it's one of those two. I think... It's late dammit! So what if I can't think of the correct wordy thing! Just read the story!) on a wave of my insanity. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Oh yeah, I love the reviews!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED.

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_**Chapter 2: The Nature of Their Friendships are Exquisite**_

To say that Miriallia Haww was excited would be a vast understatement. She was so giddy, in fact, that Cagalli hadn't trusted her to drive to pick up Dearka at the neighborhood spaceport. She always got this way when he came to visit her. The months that they spent apart made the short visits infinitely more enjoyable. Phone calls and pictures could never replace actually having Dearka right there. They could never replace the wonderful sensation of having him hold her in his arms. The anticipation of their first embrace after lengthy periods of separation got to be too much for Miriallia and her friends worried she couldn't drive the distance without getting into an accident.

This time it was Cagalli who had chosen to drive the excited girl to meet her love. It wasn't the first time the lively blonde had taken on the task. She said previously that she enjoyed the break from her life and liked the chance to just drive and talk with a friend, and Miriallia had no reason to doubt her words. Between managing the affairs of a nation and managing her own marriage, Cagalli could get plenty exhausted. Sometime Miriallia didn't know what made the girl more tired; Orb or Athrun.

Miriallia smiled as she looked at the other woman. She was wearing a loose violet blouse and jeans. Her shoulder length blonde hair framed her pretty face. Miriallia almost thought that Athrun was one lucky guy — he had such a beautiful wife — but she knew Cagalli was a firecracker. Athrun both loved and feared the innocent looking girl. But Cagalli's explosive temper had no way interfered with their marriage. Athrun seemed used to it and would always just smiled whenever she went off on him. Through two years of marriage the duo had managed to stay as loving as always.

Cagalli noticed she was being watched and sent a quick glance towards Miriallia. She smiled and looked back at the road and said, "Something on your mind?"

Miriallia sighed and looked at the roof of the car. "Dearka," came her wistful reply. "Please tell me we're almost to the spaceport. I can't stand this."

"Just a couple more minutes and you'll be reunited with your prince."

Miriallia groaned. "That's a couple minutes too long."

Miriallia half wanted Dearka to move to Earth permanently and half wanted him to stay on PLANT. She didn't like the huge gap between them that was space, but if he was always here things could get boring. Their meetings would become less meaningful and they might not cherish every moment as they do now. But knowing she wouldn't see him for weeks, or even months was aggravating. But he had a career and it was his decision to make. There was a lot for him at PLANT: his parents, his friends, his job, Yzak. She wouldn't dare take all that away from him to satisfy her.

Miriallia sighed and passed the rest of the short trip watching trees fly by the window.

When the car finally came to a stop in front of the spaceport Miriallia instantly found Dearka sitting on a bench outside wearing a green polo shirt over khakis. He was laughing softly as Miriallia raced out of the car and over to greet him. He saw her and smiled from ear to ear and stood up to wrap her in a loving embrace. They held each other for a moment and then she pulled away to look him in the eyes and say "Hi". He chuckled and returned the greeting. Miriallia's eyes drifted to the side of the bench he had sat on. "Wow. You sure brought a lot of stuff," she said as she looked at the pile of duffel bags and suitcases.

"Huh?" he said as he looked at the luggage himself. "I brought the same amount as I usually do."

Miriallia raised an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look. That wasn't the usual amount, that was almost twice what he usually brings. It was only then that she noticed the light-haired man still sitting on the bench watching them.

"Yzak?" she asked uncertainly. It wasn't his presence that was startling, it was his appearance. Yzak had made trips to Earth prior to this and she had seen him several times. His increased hight was no surprise to her — he was just an inch shy of Dearka's hight now. The scar that had once been so pronounced and apparent and was now a faded line that was just barely noticeable didn't take her back. It was his clothes — a simple white teeshirt with faded jeans — and the fact that he looked so comfortable and natural in them. She was used to him in his neatly pressed uniform that the thought of him in anything else was ridiculous.

Yzak continued to sit there, silent. "I convinced him to come to take a break and come to Earth," Dearka said.

Miriallia looked from Yzak to her boyfriend, then back to Yzak again. "That's nice," she started. "Dearka has told me how you work constantly and never rest. It's good you've decided to take a vacation Yzak." She smiled at him.

"Yeah," Yzak said dryly. "It's wonderful." He stood up and walked over to the pile of bags and lifted two duffel bags and a suitcase. "Where's the car? That was a long flight and I'm tired."

"Oh, Cagalli parked back their," Miriallia said pointing over her shoulder to the parked car and the blonde girl leaning on the hood waiting for them. Dearka picked up his luggage and they started walking towards the car. Miriallia looked at Yzak and asked, "So, where are you staying Yzak? We can drop you off and let you have your nap."

Dearka and Yzak exchanged glances.

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"No." 

The moment the simple two letter, one syllable word emanated form Miriallia's mouth Dearka groaned and laid his head back on the seat in the back of Cagalli's car to look at the ceiling. His head shot back up and he looked at the back of Miriallia's head that wasn't blocked by the seat in front of him. "_Please_ Miriallia?" he pleaded. "What's the big deal? It's just a couple of days and it isn't like he's going to take up too much space or sacrifice animals in your bathroom, or something weird like that."

"No," Miriallia responded flatly. "You know my apartment is barely big enough to accommodate your stay, but having Yzak their too? Plus, how do I know he won't go sacrificing animals in my bathroom? I don't want to have to scrub cat blood off the linoleum."

Dearka sighed heavily. "You're being unreasonable. Your apartment is plenty big for all three of us."

Yzak sat in the backseat next to Dearka watching the scene unfold before him with a small smirk on his face. It was fun watching Dearka get exasperated, even if it meant that he didn't have a place to stay for two weeks on a planet he wasn't entirely familiar with if Dearka lost this argument. Yzak vaguely thought that Cagalli found the whole scene of the pleading boyfriend and unyielding girlfriend quite humerus too, but if she did she didn't show it. She simply drove the car with a faint smile on her lips without a single word. Yzak was almost tempted to speak up when the idea of him sacrificing anything was thrown into the conversation, but decided against it.

"I'm being unreasonable?" Miriallia was saying. "Fine. I have one extra futon in the spare room. He can sleep in there."

Dearka leaned back in his seat with a triumphant smile. He glanced at Yzak to show how proud he was of his small victory. "See," he said to Miriallia. "Problem solved. Yzak can sleep in the spare room and you and I will share-"

"Oh no," Miriallia was quick to interrupt. "You can share the futon with Yzak."

Dearka's smile quickly disappeared and was replace by a look of genuine surprise and a hint of fear. "What? But... But things would be a lot easier if we shared a room like usual. I mean... Making Yzak and me share a small futon? I'd rather sleep on the couch..."

"Okay, Yzak can get the futon and you can have the couch."

Dearka opened his mouth to offer his rebuttal, and closed it a second later. He looked over at Yzak to find some support, but Yzak just smirked at him. He even looked to Cagalli for something, but she was too focused on driving to help him. He opened his mouth and closed it again before he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, looking too much like a child who was refused a new toy. Yzak chuckled lightly and his eyes drifted to the rear-view mirror and met Cagalli's eyes and saw that her smile had grown significantly.

They rode in silence for a few moments before Cagalli decided to speak up. "You know, you guys arrived at the perfect time. Athrun's birthday is tomorrow."

"Oh!" Miriallia exclaimed. "I almost forgot. I suppose there will be a party?"

"Of course," Cagalli responded.

"Wonderful," Dearka mumbled from Yzak's left, still pouting from being placed in the doghouse. Even at twenty-five he still acted like a child from time to time.

"Oh hush Dearka, or I'll make you sleep on the floor." Yzak had to chuckle at Miriallia's threat. Any punches thrown at his friend pleased him. Perhaps he should be worried at his enjoyment of watching his friend suffer instead of so readily accepting it? Dearka sighed and crossed his arms over his chest and settled on looking out of the window of the moving vehicle. He had decided to give up on pouting since it was getting him nowhere.

"I'm sure," Cagalli started, distracting everyone from the childish behavior going on in the backseat, "that Athrun will be... um... surprised... that you'll be there Yzak." Why did that not sound as good as Yzak supposed it was supposed to sound?

Either way Yzak grunted in response and looked out of his window. The girls held a private conversation in front while the boys stared out the windows in back. After a minute or two, Dearka leaned toward Yzak and said in a hushed voice, "A party means girls, and I'm sure there will be at least one interested in giving a grumpy, pale twenty-five-year-old his first kiss."

Yzak looked at Dearka and the big, idiotic grin that was plastered on his face and tried to think of something to say in reply. Coming up with nothing he simply said "I hate you" and resumed looking out of the window. His response earned him a sigh and a "I'm trying to help you and you say you hate me?" Yzak responded with a grunt, hoping the subject could just end. Dearka didn't share Yzak's sentiments and looked at Miriallia — who had ended her conversation with Cagalli — and just had to ask "Do you have any single friends?" Miriallia shifted in her seat to look back at Dearka and asked "Why?" to which Dearka offered a "I'm trying to find Yzak a girlfriend." There was a pause while Miriallia thought that was ended by the sound of brakes and the car being brought to a stop and Cagalli saying "We're here."

Yzak, Dearka, and Miriallia stepped out of the car and retrieved the bags located in the trunk and said their goodbyes to Cagalli before she headed back to her large estate, her work, and her husband.

Miriallia ushered them into the tall apartment complex and passed the front desk where the person stationed there had obviously just woke up from a little afternoon nap when they arrived and to the elevator where Miriallia hit the five button and the trio waited for the elevator to arrive on the fifth floor so they could disembark and walk down the hall to her apartment, which they did. They entered the snug (a nice word for small) two-bedroom apartment with an open kitchen. There were two bathrooms — the main one and a half-bath located between the two bedrooms — and a good sized closet. The living-room was furnished with a nice couch and two chairs to either side of it, all facing the television.

Yzak decided it looked comfortable enough. He couldn't complain; it was either this or the street.

Miriallia showed them where they would be staying. She opened the door to the small bedroom with a futon sitting in the middle and an assortment of other crap that wouldn't go anywhere in the apartment. She showed Dearka the couch with a smirk while he frowned. She then proceeded to say she was going to get some blankets and pillows for the boys which Dearka translated into taking a nap for Yzak when she shut the door to her bedroom.

The two men, left to their own devices, decided to make themselves at home, and while Yzak fell into one of the comfy arm-chairs, Dearka raided Miriallia's fridge. He returned with two beverages — a bottle of green tea for himself and a juice box for Yzak — and tossed Yzak the juice while he sprawled out on the couch. Yzak looked at his juice and asked, "Is this a joke?"

Dearka took a swig of his tea and said, "It's juice Yzak. Just drink it."

Yzak did just that and found the contents of the rectangular box of laminated cardboard quickly gone and leaving a desire for more. He glared at the box while he crushed it and stood up to throw it away. Yzak returned to his seat and sat there staring at the ceiling, deciding he was far to tired from the long shuttle ride to do anything else.

"Do you wanna hit the clubs?" he heard Dearka ask jokingly.

Yzak snorted and replied, "I doubt your girlfriend would like to wake up and find a note saying 'Gone clubbing. Be home later'." Yzak looked down at his friend and asked, "Why _is_ she sleeping anyway? Wouldn't she want to talk to you or something equally tedious?"

Dearka sat up and tried to get into a more comfortable position on the couch. "She usually doesn't get much sleep before my visits. The anticipation and all I guess. Most of the talking happens the morning after I come."

"Oh," Yzak said, looking back at the ceiling.

"So," Dearka said after a brief moment of silence. "Athrun's birthday is tomorrow, huh? How about we get him a little gift?"

"Athrun's a big boy now," Yzak replied nonchalant. "He doesn't need birthday presents from us."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a little gift for the after-party. Something we could enjoy that would embarrass Athrun to no end. Kira too."

As stated earlier, Yzak enjoyed seeing his friends suffer, and suffering from embarrassment was suffering of the best kind, so Yzak's interest was peaked. "What did you have in mind?" Yzak asked calmly. Dearka just grinned and pumped his eyebrows. Yzak thought a moment what that could mean until he remembered a similar occurrence in the past. "You know that Athrun's married," Yzak said as he figured out what Dearka was getting at. "Cagalli _will_ kill you if she finds out. And Kira's engaged. Lacus would probably see no problem in aiding Cagalli in what is sure to be stabbity violence directed towards you. You know all of this, right?"

"Of course," Dearka said with a wave of his hand. "Athrun and Kira won't want those two to find out so they'll keep quiet. And even if they do talk it isn't like it'll be the _real_ thing. We can get a guy this time."

Yzak sighed and shook his head. "Fine, but if questioned, I had nothing to do with this."

"Agreed," Dearka said. "Now it's what, five o'clock? That's plenty of time to get what we need. And Milly will probably stay out far a couple hours at the least. She'll never know we left."

Yzak sighed again and shrugged as the two men stood to head out of the door.

Athrun and Kira were going to hate them.

* * *

Rewind to three years ago. 

On PLANT a friend of Dearka and Yzak was celebrating his twenty-ninth birthday. As he danced and drank and danced some more he had no idea what was waiting for him after his party. And after the music quieted and the guests vacated his house, Dearka and Yzak stayed behind, along with a couple of other colleagues. The birthday boy was now pretty drunk and reclining on his couch while four of his so-called friends wheeled in a thin cardboard replica of a cake. They parked it in front of the drunk man who looked at it with mild surprise.

The four friends stood off to the sides of the cake while the man inquired about what the cake was for.

After some slurred thank yous the man was going to stand up and get a piece of what he though was a human size cake when fists began punching holes through the cardboard and a moment later a human figure jumped from the mess that had once resembled a cake and stood a few feet from where he sat on his couch with a death-grip on his cushions staring at the human figure in front of him.

Standing a few feet away from him was the ugliest woman he had ever seen dancing maniacally to music that wasn't there.

After all was said and done the four who had planned the act had several good laughs and the other man had a terrible story to tell for the rest of his life. Or at least what he remembered of the experience.

Fast forward three years and you will find Yzak and Dearka hunting Orb for a male stripper for their friend's twenty-fourth birthday. They felt obligated to do this for their friend, who they had become quite chummy with over the past eight years. Gone were the days of their boyhood rivalries and jealousies that none will ever admit to. Now they were close friends and this was just incentive for Athrun to come up with something equally embarrassing to do to those two.

Which he would no doubt do.

Such was the nature of their relationship that this would become a funny story to talk about for some time to come.

As long as the women heard nothing about it.

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**A/N: Hmm... This part of the story (the beginning) is what I'm using to reintroduce the characters and get you caught up on the past eight years. That part will include the next chapter and perhaps the one after that. I never thought that that would include any forms of crazy dancing people who Dearka and Yzak are paying to embarrass their friends. Oh well, the main plot starts after the party. Now, click submit review and let your voice (text) be heard (read) by all (me and possibly my roommate cause he reads my email sometimes. asshole). Don't feel like reviewing you say? Then send me an angry email telling me how much you hate me and my story. You and I both know you want to, so just do it already! Hmm... I need more coffee.**


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